CHAPTER 12
Work and Family Life
Chapter 12: Work and Family Life
Chapter Outline
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Money and Relationships
Work and Marriage: Effects on Spouses
Work and Family: Effects on Children
Balancing Work and Family Life
Balancing Work and Leisure Time
The Future of Work and Family Life
Chapter 12: Work and Family Life
Introduction
• One survey noticed a link between
homicides in the family and economic
deprivation.
• Impoverished families, including those
riddled with unemployment, were contexts
for homicide.
• Discussion:
– How do economic forces affect the family
structure?
Money and Relationships
• Effects of the Recession
– Tax increases
– Government services decreases
– Retirement age increases
– Incomes decrease
– Uncertainty
– Big institutions no longer take care of their
workers
Money and Relationships
• Effects of Poverty on Marriages and Families
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Poorer physical and mental health
Lower personal and marital satisfaction
Lower life expectancy
Relationship conflict
Stress leading to substance abuse, domestic
violence, child abuse and neglect, divorce, and
questionable parenting practices
– Teenage pregnancy
Money and Relationships
• Financial Behaviors of Undergraduates and
Young Adults
– 51.7% of undergrads reported not using a budget
– 52.2% of undergrads save money
– Undergrads and young adults who budget and
save reported more discussion of finances with
parents and friends and observed more parents’
and friends’ financial behaviors
– Characteristics of undergrads who budget and
save: white, pair-bonded, and older
Work and Marriage:
Effects on Spouses
• About 60% of wives work today, nearly
double the percentage in 1960.
• Generally speaking, the more money a
partner makes, the more power that person
has in the relationship.
• Although two-thirds of all husbands in dualincome families make more money than their
wives, women are more likely to make the
decisions in more areas.
• Higher education increases a woman’s
power in the relationship.
Working Wives
• 70% of all U.S. wives with children are in
the labor force.
• Mothers are most likely to enter the work
force when their children are teenagers.
• Only 13% of families are “traditional” in
the sense of a breadwinning husband and
a stay-at-home wife.
• Mommy track: stopping paid employment
to spend time with young children.
Wives Who “Opt Out”
• Opting Out: women leaving their careers and
returning home to take care of their children
• Reasons for opting out:
– Husband is unavailable or unable to “shoulder
significant portions of caregiving and family
responsibilities.”
– Employers encourage and support women
parental leave but do not help “much in the way
of making it possible for them to return or stay
once they had babies.”
Office Romance
• In one survey, 60% of
respondents said they
had been involved in
an office romance
• Another survey found
40% of respondents
had an office
romance
• About 32% of the
office romances
ended in marriage
Dual-Career Marriages
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HIS/her career
HER/his career
HIS/HER career marriage
THEIR career marriage
Effects of the Wife’s Employment
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Role overload
Second shift
Role strain
Benefits to husbands
– Relieved of the sole responsibility for the family’s
financial support
– Freedom to quit jobs, change jobs, or go to
school
– Potential to form a closer bond with their children
Effects of Wife’s Employment
on the Marriage
• Woman’s employment does not affect a
happy marriage but can affect an unhappy
one
• Highest marital satisfaction and equitable
division of housework
• Having control over the hours one works is
related to positive family functioning
Work and Family: Effects on
Children
• Quality time
• Day care
considerations
– More than half of U.S.
children are in centerbased child-care
programs
– Quality of day care
Effects of the Wife’s Employment
on the Children
• Children do not appear to suffer
cognitively or emotionally as long as
positive, consistent child care alternatives
are in place
• Self-Care/Latchkey Children
Balancing Work and Family Life
• Superperson Strategy
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Delegation of Responsibility and Limiting
Commitments
• Time Management
• Role Compartmentalization
Balancing Work and Leisure Time
“Technology is such that a person may
never detach from work and stay connected
to the office even on vacation.”
• How does the above statement reflect the
changing nature of leisure in America?
Leisure
• Use of time to engage in freely chosen
activities perceived as enjoyable and
satisfying
• Changing nature of leisure and work for
millennials (those born between 1980 and
1995)
Leisure
• Benefits of Leisure Time
– Relieve work-related stress and pressure
– Facilitate social interaction and family
togetherness
– Foster self-expression, personal growth, and
skill development
– Enhance overall social, physical, and
emotional well-being
Leisure
• Problems with Leisure Time
– Excessive drinking
– Relationship problems related to television
watching, travel, time, and video games
– Vacation stress
What If?
Quick Quiz
1. What is role overload?
a. not having time or energy to meet the
demands of role responsibility
b. being on the second shift
c. getting too much into one's role as parent
d. taking on both gender roles of parent
Quick Quiz
2. What is most likely the primary concern of
an employed parent?
a.
b.
c.
d.
pleasing their employer
juggling demands of work and family
making enough money
finding time for the spouse
Quick Quiz
3. The housework and child care that
employed women do when they return
home from their jobs is called:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the fourth shift
the third shift
the second shift
the first shift
Quick Quiz
4. Which of the following can be a
disadvantage of leisure time?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Relieve work-related stress.
Foster self-expression.
Enhance social well-being.
Excessive drinking.
Quick Quiz
5. When the careers of both the wife and
husband are given equal status in the
relationship, the couple has a commuter
marriage, which is also called:
a.
b.
c.
d.
HIS/HER career
HIS/her career
HER/his career
THEIR career